Treasure Coast visitor finds out what's so special about spiny lobster mini-season | Social media

Until today, the only lobsters I had ever seen were the ones floundering in the tanks at a chain grocery store or a steamed red Maine lobster on a dinner plate at a fancy restaurant.

So when I arrived at Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers and TCPalm.com last week for a two-week social media externship, I saw a listing on my agenda to tag along with outdoors writer Ed Killer on the opening day of what I read as mini-lobster season.

Killer, though, quickly corrected my assumption.

It's not mini-lobsters. Like crawdads from back home in Kentucky. I had fished for those once in a flooded ditch in my front yard. I was tagging along for lobster mini-season.

Still, I didn't know what I was about to step into. Not being familiar with fishing (even though I live near two lakes and three rivers), I didn't know how people caught lobsters or even that lobsters lived in Florida.

Killer gave me a crash course in lobstering as we waited for people to head out or come back to shore and pointed to the red flags rising from the Atlantic at Bathtub Beach.

He explained that divers must use the red and white flag to signify to boaters that someone was underwater. Boaters must stay 300 feet away.

Oh, yeah, the lobsters.

Unlike the red Maine lobsters, spiny lobsters don't have claws and have spikes. Their shells are a shade of orange or brown peppered with bright green, blue or yellow spots.

The Thrill of the Hunt

Within a few minutes of arriving at Bathtub Beach as the sun rose over the Atlantic, we caught up with divers Tom Conti of Stuart and Dennis Heald of Port St. Lucie as they loaded gear into a kayak.

A kayak?

Heald quickly explained that he had sold his boat as he prepares to move. Kayak or boat, it didn't matter as long as it got them into the water and into a sweet spot.

"Whoever got my boat got my GPS," he said, chuckling and noting that the GPS held all of his lobstering secrets.

They didn't know if they'd be out for 15 minutes or several hours. It didn't matter as long as they brought home some bugs.

Bugs?

Killer and the kayak lobster crew explained that bugs are slang for spiny lobster.

Conti demonstrated the tools of the trade — a tickle stick and a net. With a tickle stick in one hand and a net in the other, the goal is to flush the bugs out of their rocky hiding spots and into the net. The ultimate prize, of course, is a lobster for the dinner table.

"For me, it's the first day to go out and get lobster," Conti said. "If it's not raining or cold, I'll go."

Why Such a Fuss?

Several of the lobster hunters we talked to said they took a day off from work or that the last Wednesday and Thursday of July are marked in their calendars as an annual tradition.

It reminds me of opening day of deer season back home.

I don't hunt. I don't fish. Friends and co-workers that do hunt have the days until deer season marked on their calendar in big bold red letters. One archery shop back home even displays a sign in their parking lot with the days marked off until the season.

Bryce Currie, a firefighter, took the day off. He moved from Michigan to Florida as a child more than 30 years ago, but remembers the fuss people made over deer season. Currie said he enjoyed opening day for the "fun and craziness" as he waited at Sansprit Park for friends to arrive with their boat.

Another lobster fan likened the mini-season to the bow season that precedes black powder (or gun) season for deer. Mini-season is the warm-up to the regular season that runs from Aug. 6 to March 31. Lobster mini-season enthusiasts, though, told me that the 48-hour window allows them to dive for lobster when the commercial fishermen are not scouring the hunting grounds.

Traveling Good Times

Many of the lobster enthusiasts I found loaded their boats with the usual diving gear as well as lunches, snacks and beverages for a day on the water. They planned to dive for a bit and then relax.

Chris Nickerson of Port St. Lucie took his father, stepmother, daughter, son, stepbrother and a family friend out early Wednesday morning. By midmorning, the crew had snared two lobsters, but they returned to the shore to drop off Nickerson's stepmother. They talked about where they found their lobster, but stepmother Lois Brenner good-naturedly quipped "Don't give away our secrets."

As she walked away, Nickerson, his father and his son rearranged their supplies and prepared to return for round 2. They hoped their luck would improve.

Persistence or Luck?

I asked several lobster hunters what skill was needed for a successful day. Several said it was persistence. One person said it was patience, and another person replied that it was luck. Perhaps a combination of all three?

Gilford and friends were just one short of their limit. During mini-season, each fisherman is limited to 12 lobsters.

And just like the deer hunters back home, I'm sure stories will be embellished. Like the guy who showed off sea urchin bites on his hand. Or the guy who snagged a pesky lionfish. Or the guys who had the "big one" in their sights only to see it swim away moments later.

As the day wore on, their stories got bigger and their eyelids got droopier. Some had been out since Tuesday night as they set up their locations and waited for the magic moment of 12:01 a.m. to start hunting.

And just like the seasons back home, some of these guys and gals are already looking ahead. "We do all of it," said Gabriel Arrington of Jupiter. "Lobster, gator and then straight into deer."

At that moment, though, Arrington wasn't thinking about anything beyond a well-deserved nap and later a tasty lobster feast.

From what the fans told me, spiny lobster trumps that stuff swimming in the tank at the supermarket. It's richer. It's better. I'm hoping for a tasty feast before I return to Kentucky.

Wright is an assistant professor at Murray (Ky.) State University. She is visiting with the Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers through an AEJMC/Scripps Howard externship in social media.